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Monday, 31 August 2009

Baking with Blueberries

Here's sharing with you yet another baking repertoire with blueberries.

I first saw this Blueberry Breakfast Scones recipe from one of my favourite food magazines. I couldn't help but to copy down the recipe right away. It was only then that I noticed it is actually from Bill Granger! Although I have read his books, Bills Food and Bills Open Kitchen, I have not tried any of his recipes...knowing that I am a lousy cook, I simply don't have the guts. However, I was so inspired by his gorgeous blueberry scones that I went to get some blueberries just so that I could try out the recipe.

I thought I would have made the scones right away. But it turned out that I was busy coaching my kids for their term-end exams and other unexpected upcoming events that I left the blueberries sat in the fridge for almost a week. When I finally found time to get down to making these scones, I realised that I did not have any cream at home. I looked inside my fridge for a suitable substitute, and I almost gave up when I saw a tub of blueberries yogurt. But it was a fat-free yogurt, wouldn't I be stretching it too far to use it in place of the cream?!

It was quite unlike me that I chose to go ahead to use the yogurt as a replacement. I like to stick to recipes and follow them to a T, especially when it is the first time I am making anything. I guess I must have been so desperate to be able to bake those scones! I am not sure whether it was the yogurt or the measurement of the flour amount, the dough turned out to be rather wet and sticky. I went on to pat the soft and sticky mess to a round disc and even managed to 'cut' the dough into wedges using a spatula. Due to the sticky dough, the surface of the finished scones didn't look anything close to those from the original recipe :'(

Nevertheless, the scones tasted surprisingly delicious. Although they didn't have a strong buttery flavour which I was expecting from scones, they were soft, fluffy, and the blueberries remained sweet after baking. The scones tasted especially good when they were served warm. You can find the original recipe here and I hope you'll enjoy the video clip as much as I do :)

32 comments:

Hi HHB,Wow! Another beautiful bake from you. I'm like you, like to stick to the exact of the recipes (except the sugar). But your scones looked really good. It's time for me to bake scones, my colleague was asking for it. :)

Ohhh.. my favorite scones! It looks so yummy! I think using yogurt for the scones would be good too! May be the cream could make it much richer and flavourful. Anyway, that's a good try. I really wish to have a piece of it now :P

Hi HHB, last night i bake your milk loaf recipe n the bread is really yummy :) Will be even better if you have a kaya recipe to go with it ;)You are really amazing, managing 2 kids n yet finding the time to do all these fantastic baking n blogging. Well done, JiaYou :)

Hi HHB! I love your blog and it's very inspiring.I'd like to ask where you get the blueberries for your recipes? The ones I get always seem to be rather tasteless. Is there anywhere to get flavourful berries here in SG?Thanks!

Hi Marie, I usually get the blueberries from NTUC or from Carrefour. I do get blueberries that are tasteless. I mentioned something on this in my post "Classic Blueberries Muffins". There's also a few comments on the country of origin of the blueberries, and they tend to be sweeter if the fruits are in seasons.

Hi Huiqi, I am not sure, it could be the type of chocolate. I usually use baking chocolates from Carrefour (house brand), it has more than 60% cocoa content, and it is something which I can afford ;)

Wow, I like so much berries, and your cake looks wonderful!Nice to meet you, I am Rosmarina, an Italian girl who loves to bake :D That's why I love so much your blog.I just posted a revisitation of your matcha and chocolate chips buns on my blog (http://rosmarina90.blogspot.com/2009/09/cocoa-buns-with-strawberry-red-peppered.html), and I want to thank you for sharing your recipe.(My post is traslated in English... :)

i actually followed the exact recipe posted on the link you gave (for the scones), da mixture turned out really wet n sticky, and its unlikely to knead them. i didn't have a choice but to scoop them into a muffin cup and bake. did you face such situation as well when you make da scones? n its wasn't sweet..=( is it supposed to be like that?

Hi Kimmie, as mentioned in this post, I also had the same problem of wet and sticky dough. I found the sweetness just right as I don't really have a sweet tooth ;) It could also be due to the blueberries.

hanushi, when the dough is just out of the fridge, it will be quite firm and stiff, just leave it in room temperature for 5 mins or so, it will be softer and easier to cut. Yes, they are soft and flaky.

hanushi, just chill it in the normal fridge compartment. So since your dough is not very firm, you should be able to cut it easily? Sorry I am not very sure what you meant in your previous comment, I thought you had problem cutting because the dough was too firm and hard. If you find the knife sticks to the dough, just dust the knife with some flour after each cut.